"In newsrooms across the country," writes Matthew Engel in the FT, "chief sub-editors must have been panicking as they tried desperately to rake a headline out of the chancellor's turgid oratory and niggardly offerings."

Maybe they were short of inspiration at the FT ("Tories rap 'con trick' as Brown steps out on his road to No 10"), but not at News International, where Mr Brown's manoeuvres went down exceptionally well.

For once, the Sun and Mirror are united in their mutual admiration of the chancellor. David Cameron will not be pleased. The best coverage he receives today is a picture of a workman installing a wind turbine on his roof. ("His neighbours aren't impressed," sniffs the Mail.) "KNEES UP MR BROWN ... jubilation," purrs the Sun. "NO 10 THIS WAY ... Historic 2p income tax cut that will make Gordon PM," gurgles the Mirror. Inside, it calls him "Starlin". Geddit?

The Times agrees it is a "twopenny budget", but cannot quite disguise the fact that the cut in income tax has been largely funded by scrapping the 10p tax band. Those earning less will be propped up by more generous tax credits. "2P OR NOT 2P?" muses the Independent, whose leader points out that while Mr Brown will raise the threshold for paying top rate tax, he will claw back the money by lifting the national insurance threshold too. Similarly, the 2p cut in corporation tax is offset by a rise in the levy on small businesses. "WHAT GORD GIVETH," the Mail fumes, "GORD TAKETH AWAY."

The phrase "sleight of hand" crops up often, and it is not always complimentary. "BROWN'S TAX CUT TRICK," splashes the Telegraph, which is particularly annoyed with the Tory leader for allowing himself to be wrongfooted by what looks, at first sight, like a tax cut.

The inheritance tax threshold goes up to £350,000; fewer pensioners will pay tax; there was more money for the armed forces, counter-terrorism and the NHS; and fuel duty will rise by 2p a litre in October. But the 2p cut stole the show, as Mr Brown intended: he saved it until last.

"IT'S JUST A BIG CON," says the Express, whose chief sub-editors obviously took the evening off to enjoy a pint (up 1p) and a cigarette (up 11p a packet) before the sin taxes kick in.

But never mind the front pages. What do the heavyweights think? Martin Wolf of the FT: "Overall, as was always expected, the budget was close to neutral ... These are largely measures of simplification. That is no criticism, even if the elimination of the always unnecessary 10p band means that Mr Brown is withdrawing one of his own measures." Credit where it is due: "The stable growth over the past one and a half decades has been remarkable, even if we are now used to it ... Now, as Mr Brown reminded his audience, the UK is the second richest country in the G7. He has every reason to consider this a job well done ... But he has also been prone to excessive complexity, tireless interference and a plethora of gimmicks. Not least, he has never provided a convincing answer to the biggest question: has the additional spending been wisely used?"

The Times's Anatole Kaletsky wishes the chancellor could be a little more straightforward. Why trumpet a tax cut that isn't? Why not explain clearly that the abolition of the 10p rate will be offset by tax credits? "He might have got some credit for being candid and trying to communicate his message directly to the voters ... Presentation is going to matter far more when Mr Brown becomes PM, as he now almost surely will."

The Independent's Simon Carr agrees. "As a public speaker, as an interviewee he was and is unpleasantly self-obsessed ... It is very alienating ... There is no real interlocutor." Tony Blair's style is to find common ground and build upon it, he says; Mr Brown's does not engage.

"It was a good way for Gordon Brown to hang up his boots," says Larry Elliott in the Guardian.

Nonetheless, there may be trouble ahead: "Flogging off some of the family silver in the shape of asset sales should help, but even education is only going to get 2.5% real increases in coming years. That is less than it has been used to. Health is expected to get a smaller increase than education, but it seems improbable that Brown can get through to the next election without finding extra cash to avoid a highly damaging financial crisis in the NHS."

The public sector pay round has been tight. "Everything in yesterday's package was predicated on the assumption the economy can motor along at close to 3% a year until the next election. Brown remains supremely confident. We shall see, but the budget stopped his opponents playing and the 2p tax cut may prove a crucial away goal."

"A record to be proud of? I don't think so," says the Telegraph's Jeff Randall bitterly. "One reason for the discrepancy between the chancellor's surface joy and our pain is that he fiddles the inflation rate. Yesterday, he boasted that it had been kept below 3%, close to his guideline rate. But when measured by the traditional Retail Prices Index, it is up to 4.6% - and rising ... He is borrowing £35bn a year to plug the gap between the government's income and what it spends."

* This is an extract from the Wrap, our emailed digest of the daily papers. Try it now and pay nothing for 30 days - or subscribe for £2 a month.